2008 DIVISIONAL COACHES

• BOYS DIVISION •

David McCandless (Head Coach):  Dave McCandless has been involved in youth sports in Loudoun County for over 10 years. He began his volleyball career as a coach in the middle school league that is now known as Loudoun Youth Volleyball (LYV), one of the largest youth volleyball leagues in Northern Virginia. Dave has served as LYV’s administrator for the last four years and has coached in the middle school league for eight years.

Dave has coached many different age groups in NVVA’s Girls Juniors Program. In 2005, his 15s captured silver medals in both the CHRVA Regional’s Gold Division and the East Coast Championship’s Silver Division. His middle school recreation-league teams won the 2002 SYA Fall Classic and the 2004 Boys Division Championship. Dave also runs an after-school volleyball program for 4th- and 5th-graders and serves as a volleyball clinic instructor for PRCS. Dave has completed his IMPACT training and is also a USAV CAP 1-certified coach. Dave is eagerly making the jump over to the Boys Division of NVVA this year, hoping to increase the presence of boys volleyball in our area.

Dave is both thrilled and honored to be able to share his love and knowledge of the game with the youth of Northern Virginia.

• LOUDOUN DIVISION •

Mary Anne Creech (Head Coach):  Mary Anne has a broad perspective on volleyball as her exposure includes years as a player, official and coach. She played her college career at NCAA Division 1 Georgetown University, then spent the next 20+ years in USAV/USVBA Women's A- and AA-level competition. She has played in 10 Adult National Championship Tournaments.

While competing, Coach Creech also earned her USAV National Referee patch and officiated numerous NCAA matches, as well as several Junior Nationals and Adult National Championship finals. Mary Anne has officiated at several NCAA Tournament matches as well as the NRT Championships. She was given the honor of working as a linesperson at multiple international matches and at the NCAA Women's Championship Finals. Mary Anne is a former International Scorekeeper.

Mary Anne enters her second year as an NVVA coach, but also coached in NVVA's Northwest Youth Volleyball and Loudoun Youth Volleyball programs.

Derek Leiter (Head Coach):  Derek discovered volleyball about seven years ago at the Sterling Community Center. Since then, he’s played dozens of AA grass and beach doubles tournaments, and won a few of them. He's also played in several AA leagues each year at the Dulles Beach Volleyball Center, and has won several of those. His men's USVA BB indoor team is in its second season. Derek plays OH and MB.

Derek is entering his fourth year of coaching, his third year as head coach, and his second time teaching the game to 12-and-Under girls. His teams have won several tournaments, with Derek behind the clipboard. He also assisted the 2005 Loudoun 12J team to a Silver Division first place in Louisville last July. He is IMPACT- and CAP I-certified as of January 2006.

Christa Overstreet (Assistant Coach):  Christa enters her second year as an NVVA assistant coach and is IMPACT-certified. She grew up playing volleyball in Northern Virginia and played intramurals competitively at Oral Roberts College. Christa has coached several sports over the past seven years at various levels. Her experience includes two years of intramural college-level volleyball. During her four years of college, her teams made it to the championship twice and won the championship once. She has coached five years of middle school, junior varsity and varsity girls volleyball and is currently coaching her forth year of junior varsity and varsity girls basketball. This spring will mark her third year as the varsity girls soccer coach at Leesburg Christian School, where she is the athletic director. In 2006, her Lady Lions finished third in basketball and second in soccer in the Christian School Conference State Finals. Christa still plays volleyball in local recreational leagues, and in outdoor and beach tournaments.

Besides being the athletic director and coach at Leesburg Christian School, she is a physical education, computer, and yearbook teacher. She is also a Sunday school teacher and a girls youth leader at Believers Baptist Church. Christa looks forward to the opportunity to work with the NVVA youth again this year.

Rob Cox (Head Coach):  Rob is entering his third season coaching youth volleyball, two with Loudoun Youth Volleyball and his first with NVVA. He is IMPACT certified. He has been involved in youth athletics for several years in a variety of sports and activities (based on the interest of his kids) including: soccer, basketball, and T-Ball.

Rob’s goals for each member of the team are to improve their volleyball skills, help each of them become a successful member of the team, develop good nutritional and physical habits, to ensure they maintain high standard for academic achievement, and most of all to have fun.

Dale Newcomb, Jr.: Dale started playing volleyball in 9th grade and has over 20 years of experience playing the sport and 5 years coaching it at the middle school level. After playing Varsity at Seneca Valley HS and on a Boys’ Junior Olympic USAV team, he went on to play club at George Mason and the University of Maryland in both setter and outside hitter positions. Since then, Dale has kept active in the sport through local recreational leagues at the BB and A levels.

During High School, Dale acted as the Assistant Coach for the JV Girls’ volleyball team during the off-seasons. Once his three children started playing sports, he coached their elementary school soccer teams for several years. When his oldest daughter took up volleyball in Middle School, he began coaching LYV at Simpson, moving to Belmont Ridge for the next three years. He continues to coach his youngest daughter in LYV at Belmont, and now joins NVVA for his first year as Assistant Coach for the Loudoun 13Red team under Head Coach Bill Schneider. Dale’s coaching philosophy is to teach solid technique and proper form, promote a positive attitude and good sportsmanship, and to help the girls love volleyball as much as he does.

• FAIRFAX DIVISION •

Mike Barnett (Head Coach):  Michael has been involved with volleyball since 1990 when he began playing and officiating. In 1991, he began running clinics at the YMCA in St. Charles, Missouri, for third- to eighth-graders and discovered not only a coaching vocation but a desire to teach, which led him to become a science teacher. He couples the two by teaching chemistry and physics at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, where he is also the head coach of the varsity volleyball team. In his fifth season at Bishop O’Connell, his Lady Knights finished third in both their conference and state tournaments.

Coach Mike is in his fourth year with NVVA and has high expectations for his team this season, hoping his 15U team can repeat the stellar performance of his 15-2 team last year, which qualified for the gold division of the regional tournament. Mike is an IMPACT-certified coach and plans to complete his USAV CAP I certification this season. He is also a regionally-certified referee and scorekeeper.

Mike has coached both boys and girls and has worked with every age group. He believes his strength lies in teaching fundamental techniques and strategies to novice players.

Elliot F. Cruz (Head Coach):  This is Elliot’s second year with NVVA. He has over 30 years of volleyball experience as a player and a coach. He picked up the sport in high school, and most of his playing experience comes from playing at all levels while in the United States Air Force. There he played and coached individual unit teams, and was also a member of installation teams participating in cross-command and local tournaments while stationed both stateside and overseas. He started coaching young players about seven years ago, and has coached parochial and recreational volleyball at different levels. He was also an assistant coach at Hayfield Secondary during the 2004 fall season. He graduated with honors from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), were he was also an ROTC distinguished graduate. He has been married to Yolanda Cruz for 24 years and they have two children, Gina and Eva.

Elliot retired from the Air Force in February 2005, after over 23 years of service, and is currently a government employee with the Defense Information Systems Agency, where he serves as an information technology systems program manager.

Jill Fitzgerald (Head Coach):  Jill was a high school All-American in Colorado and played Division 1 college volleyball for Drake University and then Colorado College. She was also a college pentathlete and played one year of college basketball. Following college, Jill played four years of USVBA and then focused on beach volleyball, getting her AA-rating in professional beach volleyball. Jill has coached several sports over the past seven years at several levels, coaching both boys and girls, house league and select, soccer, basketball, and volleyball. Jill has coached championship teams as well as recreational teams, and believes most of her players and parents would say they learned a lot about how to enhance their skills, compete, and build character though sports.

Ken Huntsman (Head Coach):  This is Ken's fourth year coaching with NVVA. He has been coaching girls volleyball for eight years. He played volleyball in the top division of Fairfax County Adult Volleyball for more than 15 years, and was an outside hitter and middle blocker on a team that finished 13th in the nation in 1995 in the USAV 40-and-Over division. Currently Ken is IMPACT-certified, and has nearly completed his CAP I certification. Ken is also the girls varsity coach for Highland School in Warrenton, Virginia, while serving as NVVA's Fairfax Division director.

Len Palashchak (Head Coach):  Len Palaschak is currently in his first year as head coach at W.T. Woodson High School. He has been awarded both the Liberty District and Northern Virginia Region Coach Of The Year honors. Len is IMPACT-certified and has over 20 years of combined coaching and playing experience. His coaching experience includes military post teams — men's and women's program (Heidelberg, Neu Ulm and Augsburg, Germany), River Ridge High School (Lacey, WA), Evergreen Volleyball Club (Olympia, WA), and recreation leagues (school, college, community/children at risk). His playing experience includes U.S. Military Post and German Club (Bundesleague and Oberleague) teams, where he was the starting setter. Len is married, with four children, and resides in Annandale.

Sam Tooke (Head Coach):  Coach Tooke is in his seventh year coaching at NVVA. With over 23 years of playing experience at the University of Arkansas and on various Air Force Base teams, he has coached junior volleyball since 1997 in Texas, Virginia and Germany. In 2002 and 2003, he helped lead Ramstein American High School to 2nd- and 3rd-place finishes in the European high school championships. Coach Tooke has been the head coach at Annandale High School for the past 3 years. Coach Tooke is USAV CAP I and VHSL-certified, and is working toward his USAV CAP II coaching certification.

Ginny Rizzo (Head Coach):  Ginny is in her second year of coaching, but she has been involved with volleyball as a player since the dark ages. During college she played at Smith College and in Switzerland during her junior year abroad. She has played USVBA/USAV since the early 1980s on a wide variety of teams across the Chesapeake region, mainly at the A-AA level, and in most positions – outside hitter, middle blocker, and setter. She has played in numerous adult leagues in Northern Virginia and Maryland and used to be a regular on the doubles circuit. (She met her husband while playing in a Virginia Beach sand tournament.)

With her fanaticism as player taking its toll on her knees, Ginny decided to slow down and to give back to the sport by helping to train the next generation of players. She is currently coaching the Fairfax 15 Red team, and she was the assistant coach for the Select 15 squad last year. She has also been the freshmen coach at Fairfax High School for the last two seasons, taking the 2007 team to an 11-3 overall record and a 4-2 record in the extremely competitive Concorde District. Ginny is IMPACT- and VHSL- certified.

Outside of coaching volleyball, Ginny works for the federal government and is the “Team Rep” for her neighborhood swim team, the Villa Aquatic Gorillas of the Northern Virginia Swim League. Ginny lives in Fairfax with her husband and two children.

• SKYLINE DIVISION •

Kelly Johnson (Head Coach):  I am originally from Sellersville, PA. Both my parents were coaches so I grew up around athletics my whole life. I played middle school volleyball in Pennsylvania. We then moved to Gardendale, Alabama where I played high school volleyball. I had the privilege of receiving MVP my ninth grade year. We won states that year as well. My senior year, we moved to Tallahassee, Florida where I finished my senior year of volleyball at North Florida Christian School. After high school, I decided to play volleyball at a D-3 college in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This will be my second year of coaching volleyball. I coached at a private school in Loudon Co. last year. I am presently the JV volleyball coach at Skyline High School in Front Royal, VA.

Lesley Detweiler (Head Coach):  This is my 2nd year with NVVA, as an assistant coach for 15s last year and head coach for 16s this season. I coached at Skyline High School this past high school season and I was an assistant coach at Shenandoah University from 2004-2006. I work at Skyline HS as a truancy officer and the 8th grade guidance counselor. I played volleyball while in high school and college (at Shenandoah University). I was involved with club volleyball as a player, the highlight of which was winning the 18s East Coast Championships my final year. I still love to play in co-ed leagues around the area as well.

Jen McCullough (Head Coach): Jen is the director of the Skyline Division which is beginning its second club season with NVVA. This will be her 3rd year coaching for NVVA. Jen is a former collegiate volleyball player. She played for Clarion University in the PSAC as a starting defensive specialist. She has coached middle school, high school, and club teams in Pennsylvania and Virginia. She has also coached and hosted a number of camps through out her coaching career. Most recently she took over Millbrook High School in Winchester, VA and in her second season Millbrook High School achieved its first District Championship, first District Tournament Championship, and first ever advancement to the Regional Semifinals. Jennifer still plays recreational volleyball.

Laura Sirbaugh (Assistant Coach): In her first year with NVVA, Laura brings with her over 25 years of experience as a volleyball player and coach. Her playing career started in 1981 at Shenandoah University (NCAA Division III) and continues today in outdoor doubles tournaments and with a USAV (A and BB) adult team that participated in Nationals in 1997 and 2000. Her coaching experience started in 1986 at Shenandoah, where she was the head volleyball coach for seven seasons. Giving up coaching to start a family, Laura returned to it in 2000, when she received a teaching position at Powhatan School. At Powhatan, Laura coaches sixth through eighth grade volleyball and basketball and teaches middle school pre-algebra and algebra. Coach Sirbaugh is making the switch to coaching NVVA volleyball this year after coaching two years of AAU basketball.

Audra Agnew (Assistant Coach): This is Audra's first year coaching at NVVA. Audra started playing volleyball in the 6th grade. She played throughout middle school, high school and all four years in college. She is a graduate from Methodist College in Fayetteville NC. She played middle hitter all four years.

Audra took a break from playing volleyball to raise her family. Many things about volleyball had changed since she started playing the game in 1978, but the love of the sport was still the same. She returned to the sport to be the assistant coach for her daughters middle school volleyball team in 2006. They had a successful 12-1 season. Following middle school volleyball Audra assisted her daughters 15's travel team, FAVA. They had a successful season winning two Regional Tournaments and Runner up in one Regional Tournament. They also were Runner Up for the Regional Championship in the Silver Division. Two of her players made the All Regional Team, one of them being her daughter.

Audra volunteered her time to help Strasburg High Schools Junior Varsity volleyball team this past year. The team had a successful year only losing one game. They were undefeated in the conference.

Kristy Humphries (Assistant Coach): Kristy has been involved in volleyball since her seventh grade year. She played throughout high school and on club teams. Kristy played for Beaver High School and Premier Volleyball Club in Pennsylvania. She has coached at the middle and high school levels. Currently, she is the freshman coach at Millbrook High School. This is Kristy's second season with NVVA. Last year Kristy coached the NVVA Skyline 15’s team.